Blowback seal for building panels



M y 1970 J. K. KOUGH ETAL BLOWBAGK SEAL FOR BUILDING PANELS Filed Jan.24, 1969 INVENTOU. JOHN K. KOUGH BLAIR B. KOUGH m ATTORNEY United StatesPatent O U.S. Cl. 52541 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Disclosed isa panel a plurality of which may be used to surface the exteriors (roofand/or sides) of buildings. The panel is prefabricated and incorporatesthe sheathing, waterproofing, shingling and shakes often found inbuilding surfacing of high quality and is installed in abutting verticalcourses each course containing as many adjacent panels as required bythe roof dimensions. The panel is substantially modular so that only asmall amount of on-site custom fitting is required as compared toconventional construction. In addition, the panel includes provision forinhibiting the seepage of water into the building attic even as a resultof rain driven by intense wind.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to means for coveringthe exteriors of buildings and, more particularly, to a panel which incorporates all of the materials frequently used for this purpose in oneprefabricated assembly.

For many reasons, including weather resistance and attractiveness, apreferred covering for building exteriors has been shingles and shakesapplied over a sheathing and waterproofing membrane. A considerablenumber of prior attempts have been made to provide shake roofing orsiding which would avoid some or all of the conventional steps ofbundling the shakes, transporting the bundles to the site, applyingsheathing, applying waterproof membrane, hoisting the bundles of shakesto the roof or scaffold, breaking the bundles, and then applying theshakes, one at a time, all of which steps involve not only risk ofdamage to the building materials but increased time of installation andits attendant labor expense. Some of these structures have indeed shownsubstantial cost savings but have not :been sufiiciently weather tightto permit universal use, others have not had satisfactory shake surfaceappearance and still others have proven too costly to be competitive. Apanel characterized by none of the above deficiencies has been invented;it is shown, described and claimed in copending patent application Ser.No. 775,731, filed Nov. 14, 1968.

An examination of the aforementioned application will indicate that, forthe first time, specific provision has been made in a building panel toattack the problem of entrance of moisture from rain or other watersource up into the interstices under and between components of the paneland onto the building attic. Despite the waterproof membrane which formspart of the panel, however, when the moisture is driven as by a harshwind, the panel structure has been found not as efiicient as desired incoping with this blowback penetration. The specific provision re- ICCferred to above, as disclosed in the referenced application, comprises apanel assembly in which a membrane portion extending beyond the tops ofthe shingles and shakes if folded over the top edges of the latter andis stapled down to the upper surfaces of the shakes or, in thealternative, an additional section of membrane may be installed in thisfashion. This type of installation had been expected to provide acomplete dam to blowback moisture because the resulting panel structureincludes a double membrane barrier at the interstice between the bottomof the shingle of one panel and the top of the shake of the subjacentpanel and a membrane barrier on the joints between shingles.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION However, the above expectation has been onlypartially fulfilled; the described structure has been found to performquite satisfactorily under weather conditions which cause moderateblowback, but does not provide an absolute moisture barrier under verysevere conditions. Investigation has shown that moisture driven byexceptionally high winds may seep sufficiently so as to wet down theundersides of the shingles and shakes, and, at times, even thesheathing, and it has been concluded that entrances for moisture occurbetween shakes and between shingles and at the tops of the shakesbetween their irregular upper surfaces and the section of the membranewhich is above them.

The present invention, therefore, comprises means to provide a flat,regular surface adjacent the top of the shingles and shakes, with whichsurface the membrane makes consistent and continuous contact and alsoprovides a solid barrier against wind-driven moisture along the entirelength of thepanel. In its preferred embodiment,

the improvement takes the form of a barrier furring strip of wood ofthickness sufficient to poject slightly above the upper surfaces of theshakes regardless of the combined thickness of shingle and shake at thetop of the panel and which provides a wall facing the upper ends of theshingleshake assemblies.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side elevation showing theelements of the present novel building panel separated from each other;and

FIG. 2 is an oblique view of the present building panel.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to FIG. 1, the roof orwalls of a building can be covered with what appears to beindividually-applied natural wood shakes by means of a plurality ofpreassembled panels 5, which can be applied in a uniform and symmetricalmanner by any roofer or carpenter, or even by an amateur having nospecial training or high degree of skill.

Each panel 5 compises base strip 10, which may be a board, butpreferably is of exterior-grade plywood, about 12 inches wide and 6 or 8feet long. Each base strip 10 is covered with membrane 11 of suitablematerial such as tarred felt, which is coterminal with the ends of strip10, but may extend somewhat beyond its edges.

Upon membrane 11 and spaced downwardly (i.e. to the right in FIG. 1),for instance 2 inches, from the upper (left) edge of strip 10, isattached furring strip 14, a length of one inch wood, and abutting strip14, there are laid a course of shingles 12 and shakes 13. Shingles 12are of the conventional sawn type, of random width and about 15 incheslong and are flush with both ends of strip 10.

Upon each course of shingles 12 is laid a course of shakes 13, which maybe like conventional shakes in that one side would be formed bysplitting and the other side by sawing, or may have both sides split.Shakes 13 and shingles 12 are attached to base strip in any suitablemanner, such as by nailing.

In making conventional shakes, wood blocks of random Width, usually 24inches long, have shake blanks of varying thickness from inch to 1%inches split therefrom. These shake blanks are then sawn in two, usuallyfree hand, by a diagonal band saw cut running from one end of the blankto the other. This saw cut divides each blank into two shakes, eachshake having a feather edge of substantially zero thickness at one endthereof, and the full thickness of the blank at the other. Any wavinessin this diagonal saw cut results in a thin spot in one of the shakes anda corresponding thick spot in the other.

In making shakes 13 of the present invention, however, the shake blanksneed not be as long as for regular shakes; a preferred length is onlyinches. Also, the shake blanks are all approximately one inch inthickness and may be produced by division in two medially of theirthickness as split by a straight saw cut parallel to one side of theblank, since shakes 13 are of approximately even thickness throughouttheir length, or by splitting at both sides according to the thicknessdesired. These are important simplifying, cost reducing and safetyfactors in the manufacture of shakes, since it is a dangerous andexacting job to make the free hand diagonal cuts which produce regularshakes, while the illustrative shakes 13 can be made on automatic orsemi-automatic machinery, using a fence parallel to the plane of the sawblade as a guide or by automatic splitting machinery only (i.e., withoutsawing).

The portion of the shakes which are exposed to the weather can be variedby varying the width of strip 10 and the spacing of the upper ends ofshakes 13 from the upper edge of strip 10. Suitable dimensions are asfollows:

The lower end of membrane 11 and the lower ends of shakes 13 andshingles 12 superposed thereon project 6 inches below the lower edge ofstrip 10; shakes 13 and shingles 12 each are 15 inches long; strip 10 is/2 inch thick and 12 inches wide; strip 14 is of a thickness sufiicientsuch that its upper surface is slightly higher than the height of theshingle-shake abutting end, may serve as a gauge for positioning thenext high or lower panel, and is spaced 2 inches from, and parallel to,the upper edge of strip 10 upon which it is laid; membrane 11 extendsabout 1 or 2 inches above the upper edge of strip 10; the length ofpanel 5 may be 6 or 8 feet but may be varied at the option of themanufacturer or contractor. While these measurements are not limiting,they provide admirable siding or roofing, having about 11 inches of theshakes exposed as weatherlap.

In conventional roofing, sheathing may be laid solidly at the roof cavesand rakes whereas sheathing boards elsewhere may, for economy, bespaced. Solid sheathing is used at the eaves and rakes to provide a goodappearance since their undersides are visible, and it is desired toavoid the unsightly contribution of the membrane, especially if itshould sag. The panels of the present invention obviate thisdisadvantage since, in an installation, only the material (i.e., wood)of base strips 10 are seen in a fairly attractive lapped form. Thus, nospecial provision need be made to decorate or hide the undersides ofeaves and rakes.

As already indicated, one of the most vexing problems in roofconstruction results from the seepage of water from rain or othermoisture up into the interstices under and between shakes and shinglesand into the building attic, a situation which is enhanced by theirregular upper surfaces of shakes 13. Ordinarily, the membrane often isfound incapable of damming it or directing it to flashing and gutters sothat it will be dissipated harmlessly. The present invention includesmeans to obviate this blowback effect completely. Accordingly, as shownin dashed line in FIG. 1, when panel 5 is assembled, membrane 11 may befolded around furring strip 14 to extend above the top ends of shingle12 and shake 13 and attached by means of staples 15 or nails, or if adouble layer of waterproofing is considered advisable, membrane 11 maybe permitted to lie fiat on strip 10 and an additional width ofwaterproofing material inserted (preferably between membrane 11 andshingle 12, folded around and stapled as indicated above). As will soonbe shown, this type of installation provides a double membrane barrierat the interstice between the bottom of the shingle of one panel and thetop of the shake of the subjacent panel and a membrane barrier toblowback moisture which may seep upward in the joints between shingles.As should be apparent, this type of structure is admirably suited tosimpler installations which may provide only a single layer of woodinstead of bothshingles and shakes; contemplated as illustrative wouldbe plywood sheathing under asbestos membrane under a shake layer, astructure which would reduce fire hazard as well as provide waterresistance.

FIG. 2 shows the end of panel 5, illustrating how upper surface 31) offurring strip 14 extends slightly above upper surface 32 of shake 13 atedge 34 of strip 14-where the ends of shingle 12 and shake 13 abut.Membrane 11 thus may be attached to strip 14 in close contact alongtheir lengths.

It may be well to review briefly some of the desirable features andadvantages possessed by the panels of the invention.

To a substantial extent, the panel may be made up at the factory,shipped on open fiat railway cars (contrary to bundles of shingles andshakes which require protection during shipment) and may be handledeasily with standard equipment (fork lifts, etc.) since they are notconsidered fragile. Transportation is economical since a square in panelform occupies approximately the same space as a square of shingles andshakes, i.e., the base strip, sheathing and membrane are transported atvery little cost. At the site, since an 8 foot panel weighs about 40pounds and is reasonably dimensioned, it lends itself to conveying bybelt, elevator, etc. systems and it can easily be handed up from theground to the roof without employing machinery and, over most of theroof area, does not need to be cut because the ends need not meet overrafters; thus it lends itself to hom owner or non-professionalinstallation as well as installation by trained craftsmen. Codeinspection problems are minimized because of factory assembly and alsobecause of the selfgauging feature for adjacent courses, the high degreeof self-support and its adaptability to fool-proof watertightinstallation. The latter features also make the panel well suited forwalls and roofs in snow country without extra provision for support atoverhands, etc.

While the invention has been shown and described with reference topreferred embodiments thereof, 'it will be understood by those skilledin the art that various changes in form may be made without departingfrom its spirit and scope.

What is claimed is:

1. A panel for surfacing buildings, comprising:

a base sheathing strip;

a membrane extending over said sheathing strip;

a furring strip laid along the length of said sheathing strip and oversaid membrane;

a layer of roofing laid along the length of said sheathing strip andover said membrane and abutting against References Cited said furringstrip; and means to attach an extending end of said membrane to UNITEDSTATES PATENTS the upper surface of said furring strip so that Sa2,151,794 3/1939 Peebles 52-540 membrane folds over said furring stripto form a 5 2,164,790 7/1939 S ith 52- 535 X Watertight sealtherebetween- 3,095,671 7/1963 Fink et a1. 52560 X 2. The panel of claim1 wherein said roofing comprises 3,440,777 4/1969 M ti 52 560 X a layerof shingles, and the like and a layer of shakes and the like thereover.ALFRED C. PERHAM, Primary Examiner 3. The panel of claim 1 wherein theupper surface of 10 said furring strip extends above said roofing at theabut- C ment. 52409, 551, 560

